Quintessential Summer Daze

What makes a summer’s day just right?

Sunshine and heat and a tandem ride to the beach for starters…

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…a tall cool McDonald’s strawberry mango smoothie to follow,  a refreshing shower and a nap out back from happy exhaustion in the dappled seclusion of the willow…

Upon waking, juicy cold sailboat slices of watermelon till thirst is quenched and tummies tight ( :

A broiled salmon steak fished from local waters for supper and then a quiet perusal of the garden in the balmy evening and some industrious compost turning  just because making dirt is so much fun!

And at close of day a glorious billowing sky of gold and silver clouds to the west and a full arc of brilliant rainbow to the east…tying up the day as if it were a custom gift from God to us.

All these make a summer’s day just right.  What more could I ask?

But then today dawned and I couldn’t resist a little hike to a favorite ‘perch’ on the side of Scout…

And I sat and wrote and read the morning away, lapping  up the luxurious warmth of another rare summer’s day…

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And  I took pictures…

P1110649P1110650P1110653…pictures of every summery thing that struck my fancy…Well, not everything, the bumper crop of crimson huckleberries hanging daintily by the roadside I didn’t think to photograph.  I plucked little tangy handfuls and ate them instead!

Flowers everywhere are celebrating summer…

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Some with great fanfare…

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Others lollygagging about…

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The most exquisite bears thorns… she is the blackberry’s forerunner.

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And at last, home to my own flowers.

My very own first Gerber Daisy… looking artificial were it not for the rumple of wind and weather…

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A quintessential summer’s day would be incomplete without the bumbling buzz of bees, hard at work while we play…

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Here’s hoping you too are enjoying the essence of summer where you are.  What makes a summer’s day just right for you?  Drop a comment in the box before you head back out the door to smell the roses!

–LS

Long quiet spring evenings…

…are perfect for a spontaneous jaunt to our local beach…

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to stand in awe of all the teeming life…

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…and enjoy day’s end together, P1100842

while shadows stretch long…

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…and little lost boats find their way to shore

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by the light of the setting sun…P1100860

We’re loving the long and  unseasonably balmy spring evenings we’ve had this week. Other select evening pastimes included—a jolly pedal around town on our antique ‘granny’ tandem just for the fun of it…

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and a drive out to visit ‘Chase Me’ and spruce her up for sale…

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Ahh… the glory of a quiet spring evening!

–LS

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Beside the Sea

There blooms beside the sea come spring a wild beauty of a currant bush.  I journeyed down today to see whether it had yet bloomed.P1100048currant

And there she stood trembling in a stout Nor’wester, hanging on to her latent bouquets for all she was worth…

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…biding time till it’s safe to unfold her blooms.

P1100058seaP1100065Meanwhile a wind-buffeted tug huddled by the mill to wait out the weather…

P1100066rocksP1100071And I sought refuge among the great rocks guarding the shore.  I found the perfect spot, shielded from wind but open to sun.  As I bent to scrutinize my seating what should I see but this wee handful of ice pellets…

P1100062And then I remembered the storms of the previous night—a hazy recollection of dreams disturbed by something lashing at the windows…ahh, there must have been hail.  And here lay its very last vestiges, hidden by the great rocks now sheltering me. 

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So I sat just a while viewing the sea from my this fine vantage point, basking in sunshine, listening to the trickle of water making its way down through crevices in the rock slabs to the sea and watering spring’s first greens on its way…P1100076

Ahh…what a delectable spot to bloom, here beside the sea.

–LS

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock [that] is higher than I.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, [and] a strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. Ps.61:2-4